A Second Life (comment better names if you got 'em)
by LeBootifulNad
Summary: A big story a friend and I are writing. Dragon Ball Z based characters, references to Youtubers, and lots of good 'old fashioned zombie killing. Also romance so that's a plus. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Jessica pressed against the wall behind her, a thin bead of sweat trickling down her forehead. Her brown eyes were fixed on the scene before her, their dark depths seeming to dance with sheer terror.

' _How…?'_ she whispered to herself. ' _How could something like… this… happen?'_

Faces pressed against the glass of the window, their shredded and bloody hands scratching at the glass. She tried to relax, trying to convince herself that they couldn't get in.

Jaydon slowly walked outside the old, seemingly abandoned city. His large, tattered up black cloak flew behind him in the blustering wind, a gloved hand tightly holding an old revolver.

As if to prove her thoughts wrong, the glass shattered as a zombie pounded against it. Jess let out a scream as the creature began to pull its way in, baring its blackened, chipped teeth. She trembled, and tried to reach for a chair beside her to use against the zombie if it got too close.

Jaydon stopped as he reached the edge of the city, turning slowly. He'd faintly heard a scream from within the city. _No...that's impossible. I searched that house already, and it was empty._ His eyes constantly darted back and forth between the forest nearby and the nearest house, where the scream seemed to have come from.

The zombie was halfway through the window now, its bruised and scratched-up face sending shivers down Jessica's spine. The living nightmare reached out a battered hand. Her stomach lurched as she noticed two of its fingers were missing. The zombie's hand didn't even look like one. It was just bone and bloody flesh, clotted and stiff.

She screamed and flinched away, grabbing the chair and smashing it into the zombie's destroyed body. The impact didn't even do anything; it just made the monster angrier, and it began to haul itself towards the cornered girl faster.

Jaydon finally made his mind up, turning and sprinting quickly. The sight of two grotesque, disfigured creatures shambling towards the house gave him a horrendous feeling, which he fought off. Carefully aiming down the sights of his revolver, he fired once, then a second time, clearing a path to the smashed in window. He vaulted into the room, slamming the barrel of his revolver into the zombie's head, then fired at it, the barrel pointed into the ground.

Jessica watched the stranger beat down the threatening creature. Her whole body shook with fear, and her hands rose to her face as she fought back tears. She eventually brought herself to look up at her savior.

Jaydon quickly stretched a gloved hand out to the stranger. "THERE'S NO TIME FOR FORMALITIES! JUST FOLLOW ME!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, desperacy lining his voice.

Jess immediately sprang to her feet, grabbing his hand. She tried to steady herself as she made her way over to him, carefully stepping over the limp and unmoving body of the zombie that had been about to kill her. "Th-thank you," she whispered, her voice shaking with terror.

Jaydon pulled her quickly to her feet, turning and sprinting towards the woods he'd been running towards before, not saying a word until they reached the edge of the woods.

Jessica glanced at him. "I can't believe this is happening…" she whimpered as she ran beside him, struggling to keep up with his speed. She had never been much of a runner. "I thought these kind of… horrors… were reserved for cheesy Hollywood movies…. not real life."

Jaydon slowed down as he ran, both due to noticing her struggle and from being somewhat winded himself. "Well, believe it. It's happening whether we like it or not… Do you know how to use a revolver?"

He glanced back at her, getting the first real glimpses of what Jessica actually looked like. She had long, brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Jessica blinked. "I… I'll figure it out…" she decided.

Jaydon slowed down a bit more, pulling a second revolver out from a fold in his cloak and handing it to her. "Nah, we can stop so I can teach you. I'm a bit winded anyways."

Jessica took the gun, and examined it for a moment. Her eyes fixed on a nearby zombie. She pointed the revolver at the lumbering creature, and gave an experimental pull of the trigger. There was a _bang_ as the bullet was fired and connected with the zombie's head.

"There we go." She glanced at Jaydon, quite pleased with herself. "I told you I'd figure it out."

Jaydon shot her a little play glare. "I never said you wouldn't. I just wanted to help."

 _So much for that…_ he thought.

"What's your name? Now that we have some time to talk while we walk." He slowed down to a walk, looking at her.

"My name's Jessica," she replied shortly, smiling at him as she tucked the revolver into the pocket of her jacket.

Jaydon smiled warmly at her, relaxing at finally having a friendly face to talk with. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Jaydon."

"Nice to meet you as well."

She looked around, examining their surroundings. "Do you think zombies are attracted to noise? The gun made a pretty loud noise when I killed that… _thing…_ "

"I would honestly be very surprised if they weren't. Noise means humans, humans mean food for those cannibalistic demons…" He sighed. "I have some quieter weapons back at home though. That's where I'm taking you."

"If that's the case, then we'd better get going," she decided, quickening her pace. "Those zombies may be here soon, if they heard that gunshot."

"They probably will be."

He started running again, albeit more slowly so that she could keep up with him.

"Hope you know how to use a sword."

She waved the revolver in front of his face, amusement sparkling in her chocolate-brown eyes. "If I can figure out how to use this, I can manage a sword."

He chuckled, his own amber eyes flickering with excitement. "I suppose that's true."

He continued running, beginning to parkour along the tree branches within the woods to ease his own travel through the woodlands, along with to keep his travel quiet.

Jessica remained on the forest floor, but easily kept her footsteps light and quiet as she was much lighter.

"How much longer have we got to go?" she asked between breaths.

"About a mile. Need a break?" he asked gently.

Jess raised her chin with confidence. "No. I'll be fine," she told him.

Jaydon smirked, leaping down from the trees and rolling on the forest floor a little ways in front of her. "Alright, whatever you say."

He kept running, weaving between tree after tree, until a small house could be seen through the foliage in front of him.

Jessica peered through the low branches that she pushed aside to clear her path, her eyes fixing on a house. "I assume that's where you live? Or rather… _lived._ "

Jaydon chuckled, popping out of the bushes and walking over to the house.

"That's right. Quaint little place in my opinion."

"It's quiet here. Better than where I lived, that's for sure," she decided as she walked beside him.

He smiled, walking up the squeaky wooden porch and reaching his hand out to the wooden door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Jaydon slowly pushed the door open, a loud squeaking echoing through the house. A dimly lit hallway extended a little ahead, with a door on the right and the hall opening up into a room not too far down. He slowly stepped in, taking in a deep breath and sighing. "Home sweet home... been so long…" He sighed, flopping on the couch.

Jessica followed after him, sitting down on the couch beside him. She looked around. "Nice place. So… about those quieter weapons you were talking about…?"

"Ah, right. Those are in my room upstairs, I'll take you there in a second. I gotta just… breathe for a second." He let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders dropping down slowly.

Jess nodded, taking the offered time to try and calm herself down. The situation outside seemed unreal to her… like a nightmare that she fought to wake up from, but never would.

Jaydon was thinking the exact same thing that she was. _The nightmarish creatures… this doesn't happen in real life… it just doesn't…_ He sighed again, stretching out on the couch and sitting up. "Alright. I'm ready if you are."

"Anytime. With a nightmare like this going on, we've got to be," she replied grimly.

"Well, it's on us to turn this nightmare into a dream then." He smiled and stood up, trying to stay bright. Inside, he was just as scared as she was, and he knew it. But he also knew that he had to be strong if they were going to make it. He turned slowly, climbing up the stairs and opening a white door, leading into the most nerdified room imaginable. Multiple posters were carefully taped onto the wall, shelves upon shelves of trading cards were to the opposite of his bed, and a fully stocked video game set up and TV set was neatly organized at the foot of his bed. "Sorry about the, uh… nerdified room," he chuckled lightly.

Jessica smiled and shrugged. "I don't care," she told him. "I love video games, too." She glanced over at his pile of games.

"Oh, is that so? If we weren't living it I'd say let's play some Halo online, infection mode." He laughed and smiled, heading to the far wall where two swords were hung up. He picked up the first, a well decorated yet deceptively sharp golden and red patterned longsword, and handed it to her. "Here, try this one."

She took the sword in her hand, her fingers wrapping around the hilt. It matched her weight and balance perfectly, and she gave an experimental swipe at the air. She smiled. "Nice. This'll be fine."

"Awesome. Then I get to use my baby." He smirked and picked up the second, a very painstakingly made two bladed sword. The two blades were connected with what seemed like just a metal solder, but it'd held well for many years of use. He swayed it back and forth, readjusting to its balance. "Alriiiight. So, do you have a plan?"

"Well… I guess I've never really thought about a zombie apocalypse before. All I know is that we have to kill them and find a shelter that can't be easily infiltrated by the things."

"The genius is strong with this one!" he exclaimed playfully, ruffling up her hair with his free hand.

Jessica glared at him and swatted his hand away, trying not to laugh as she fixed up her hair, straightening it with her fingers.

"Well, lucky for you, I actually _have_ planned for this occasion. It was my project for my graduation from engineering college. I'll show you, it's downstairs in my gallery."

He headed down the stairs and down a little disconnected hallway, opening another door to a small room. This room had multiple engineering tools like solder, chisels, mallets, nails, bolts, wrenches, practically anything you could imagine for repairing or creating something. In the center of the room was a highly detailed wood model of something.

Jess followed him, looking around the room slowly until her eyes fixed on the wooden model. "I guess that thing over there is the plan?"

"Hey, check out the big brain on Jessica over here!" Jaydon teased with a smirk.

"I guess I'll have to put up with a lot of jokes about my stupidity," she sighed, rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

He chuckled, walking her over to it. "This right here is the culmination of 4 years of engineering, mechanics, and circuits classes. Along with about 10 cans of red bull."

He smiled, showing her a few working traps that he'd made on it, including log drops, tripwires, and an alarm system made out of tin cans.

"You put _a lot_ of thought into this," she admired, watching with wide eyes. "We'll have no problem surviving as long as you're here. Wow… that's the nicest thing I've said to a person," she added jokingly.

He laughed and smiled, giving her a little hug. "Well, you could say that. Or you could say that an 'all or nothing' engineering final kinda brings out the best in me."

Jess smiled. "So... What now?"

"Well you tell me what we do now. This right here is a model for a base that would be really good for this. I was thinking of having it in a tree, then we'd be safer."

"Sounds good to me. Should we stock up on supplies like food and water?"

"Mhmm. I don't have a ton here, so we'll need to find a city nearby. You have any ideas?"

"I don't think we should enter the city until we have complete protection and possibly a vehicle…" Jess said.

"Good point...where will we get protection then?" Jaydon asked.

"I guess we'll just have to be really well equipped with weapons and have a strong and fast vehicle. I'm not sure where we can get said items, though… Maybe we'll find something along the way. We can search houses and stores to get the supplies we need, and maybe we can even grow our own crops later."

"Mhmm. You can't see it in this model, but a garden is incorporated into the base. As for the vehicle, I think having a vehicle when heading into the video wouldn't be a good idea. More noise, we'll have more zombies eating our heels. Plus we have to fuel it."

"Then a bike or something? Speed is also important to get away from those walkers…"

"I'm not super worried about that...Besides, we need to stay in shape. Running will help with that." Jaydon smirked, elbowing her ribs.

" _Are you calling me fat?!_ " she demanded, outraged.

He broke down laughing, falling backwards. "BWAHAHAHAA! THAT REACTION WAS PRICELESS!"

She glared at him, trying not to laugh.

He held his stomach, laughing hysterically. "H-hooo god...th-that was so funny…"

He was literally crying from the hilarity.

She huffed, turning away, her eyes sparking with amusement. "I guess I'm going to be the joke out of the both of us," she grinned.

He smirked, standing up and hugging her from behind. "Only if you don't insult me back."

She gently elbowed him in the face and spun around. "So you _were_ calling me fat!"

"No! I was referring to the jokes about your intelligence."

" _So now you're calling me stupid?!"_

"Maybe I am. You gonna do something about it?" He smirked, clearly teasing her.

She glared at him and suddenly tackled him to the ground.

He jumped a bit, staring up at her with a smirk. "You have no idea what you're starting."

"A fight? Yeah, I know what I'm starting," she joked, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You think so?" He slowly pushed up, pushing her over easily.

She fell back, glaring at him with amusement. "Showing off your strength, huh?" she teased.

"Oh no. That's just me asserting my dominance." He smirked down at her, then winked.

She punched his arm. "I could be a leader if I _wanted_ to!" she huffed. "I'm just letting _you_ do all the hard work."

He laughed. "You? Leader? You couldn't lead us out of a paper bag."

"I'm pretty sure it's _you_ who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag without _my_ help!" she laughed.

"Uhhh, who's the one with a full detail zombie survival plan in his gallery?" He smirked down at her, pushing at her forehead.

Jess flailed at his hand that pushed her forehead. She looked up at him, grinning. "Paper bags and basic coordination has _nothing_ to do with zombies." She stuck her tongue out at him again.

"I'm pretty sure the fact that zombies don't have basic coordination means that they DO have something to do with surviving," he laughed. "Stick that tongue out at me again, I dare you. I'll bite it."

She squealed and wriggled away from him, sticking her tongue out at him and running out of the room, laughing.

He ran after her, laughing, before tackling her to the ground and pinning her by her shoulders. "Give it here! Don't make me take it!"

"Nooo!" she squealed, trying to wiggle her way out from under him.

"Last chance! I'll take it from you!" He kept his grip on her strong, a huge grin on his face.

"Neverrrr!" she laughed, trying to loosen his grip by pulling at his arms.

He sneered at her, then felt himself blush and his heart rate pick up. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers.

She let out a muffled squeak, her eyes wide as she felt the heat rush to her face.

His own face heated up, his eyes wide. He quickly parted her lips, taking her tongue and biting it before pulling away, his heart pounding. ' _Yeah… I can't say that now…'_

Jess stared at him, blushing immensely. "Well," she managed to squeak jokingly. "You're a pretty crap kisser."

Jaydon play glared down at her. "Oh shut up. I held back my snarky comment so I didn't ruin the moment."

"Well, that's me," she grinned. "The one who ruins the moment of romance and -" She decided not to add the last word.

"And…?" He leaned forward, waiting.

"Nothing," she said quickly, forcing a teasing smile.

He gave her a dead stare. "Either say it or I'mma kiss you again."

"Hmm… I'll take the kiss for now," she teased. "Even though you suck at it."

"If I sucked at it, why would you want the kiss then?" He smirked, pressing his lips slowly to hers.

"Reasons," she replied simply before hugging him as she kissed him, her eyes closing.

He sighed quietly, his own eyes closing slowly. His arms wrapped around her, holding her close. ' _Gotta remember to ask what those reasons are…'_ He thought to himself, smirking.

She pulled him towards her, smiling into the kiss.

He smiled down at her, his shoulders dropping and an enormous sigh shooting through him. His entire body going incredibly lax.

Jess stiffened as she heard a new noise, one that she had become so familiar with from her first encounter. Her eyes flew open, and she turned her head, her eyes fixing on several faces pressing against the window, their fleshy and bloody jaws gaping as they grated their teeth and claws across the glass.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Zombies!" Jessica screamed, scrambling away from the window, her eyes wide with terror and shock. "Th-they'll break through the window! I saw it happen before!"

Jaydon looked up, feeling a slight twinge of panic. He looked back, seeing how scared she was, and he forced it down. _'No...I have to be strong. For her.'_

"Jess, shhh...calm down…" He spoke soothingly, but firmly.

She tried to steady her trembling hands as she stood up slowly, her wide eyes still staring straight at the gruesome creatures right outside the window. "O-Okay…" she whispered, trying to stop her voice from shaking.

He knew his words hadn't helped, so he did something he knew would help. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her tightly, and gave her a kiss.

Jess felt some of her fear melt away, and reminded herself that Jaydon was with her. "I'm okay…" she murmured, closing her eyes tightly before opening them again.

"Good. Now then, we have two options. We can either try and go through them…"

He glanced at the window, which was fracturing and splitting with each impact from the horrific monsters. "Or we can go above them, if you're any good at parkour." He looked up, pointing to the roof.

"For now, I'd rather stay as far away from them until I become a bit more confident with my blade… Let's take the high route."

"Sure thing. Just follow me." He ran up the stairs and into a side hallway. A small, tattered-up rope hung from the ceiling, which he grabbed and yanked down. A hatchway opened up to the attic, complete with a ladder to climb up. He did so, waiting for her at the top.

Jess pulled her way up the ladder, her eyes fixed straight ahead of her.

Jaydon grabbed her hand and pulled her up, then reached up, pulling open another latch. He jumped up and pulled his way onto the roof, then laid down, reaching his hand down to her.

She took his hand and pushed herself up onto the roof, standing up and staring down at the screeching zombies down the side of the wall.

"Jess, don't look at them. Look at me."

She nodded slowly, pulling her gaze away from the screaming monsters and resting it on Jaydon. She clenched her jaw, trying to make herself seem steadier than she felt.

"You need another kiss before we get going?" He smiled at her, somewhat teasingly.

' _One of us has to be positive. May as well be me.'_

"So desperate," she teased, for a moment forgetting about the situation around them. She stood on her toes, leaning towards him and kissing him.

He smirks, slipping in. "I'm desperate, huh? At least I'm askin'…"

He smiled, kissing her slowly.

She punched his arm again, glaring at him playfully as she pulled away.  
"Well, let's get out of this place. I'm not in the mood to be torn to shreds by those _things_ down there, if they're smart enough to find a way up here."

He nodded, turning and jumping into a nearby tree branch, then beginning to parkour his way deeper into the woods. Staying slow so it was easier for her to keep up.

Jess hurried along the branches, pushing the leaves out of her way. She kept up with Jaydon. "We can go a bit faster. I'm not _that_ slow," she grinned.

Jaydon grinned back at her, moving faster. He barely seemed to be breaking a sweat. "Sorry, I just figured you wouldn't want me to totally leave you in the dust."

"As if you could do that," she teased.

"We can test that later, once we've gotten some distance on those demented horrors. I'm not in the mood to get ganged up on and have my head forcibly removed from my neck." He shivered, continuing at a speed she could keep up with.

"Hmm… you'd actually look great without a head," she grinned.

"If I didn't have a head, you'd have nothing to kiss." He smirked back at her.

"You're pretty terrible at kissing, anyway," she laughed.

"And yet you keep coming back for more." He laughed too.

"Good point," she grinned, almost tripping off of the branch, but managing to regain her balance.

"Heya clutz, need me to slow down?" He laughed, grinning back at her.

"Call me _clutz_ one more time, and you're gonna lose a finger," she warned jokingly.

"Whatcha gonna do, bite it off? You couldn't if I stuck it in your mouth." He laughed, challenging her teasingly.

"Easy. I'll just feed it to one of the biters," she grinned.

"Pfft. Like you could get one close enough to me. Pretty sure they'd prefer your flesh to my finger."

"Hmm… that's easy too. I'll just become one and come home some day, and bite your finger off." She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly.

He laughed and smiled. "Awww, you'd make me kill you! That's so mean!"

"If anyone's mean, it's you," she sniffed good-naturedly, smiling. "Always making jokes about my stupidity and size." She grinned.

"It's your fault for never fighting back, thus proving I'm more intelligent and beautiful than you are."

She snorted. "Thanks."

Laughing, she dropped to the ground, rolling. She approached a bush, with berries growing from the branches. "Do you think these are poisonous?"

He reached a hand out, grabbing a few. He smelled them, then handed them back, coughing at the horrid smell. "If the berries don't kill you, the smell will."

"Even more reason to try them!" she joked, pretending to hungrily reach out and grab a handful of berries. As she did this, a bruised and fleshy hand exploded from the bush, grabbing her wrist. Jess screamed, thrashing about and scrambling for her knife.

By the time she had grabbed her knife, Jaydon had already unsheathed his sword and pounced on the beast animalistically. The well sharpened blade cut seamlessly through the creature's neck, and it stopped moving.

"Bitch." Jaydon spat down at the unmoving zombie.

Jess wiped the blood that had stained her arm on her jacket's side. She steadied herself, clenching her trembling hands.

"I'm okay… let's keep going."

He stood up, reaching his hand down to her with a smile. "C'mon, lemme help you."

Jess shook her head. "I'm fine… If I'm going to survive out here, I need to also learn to handle myself." She smiled at him with determination.

"Take my damn hand or I'm gonna smack you with it." He laughed, obviously teasing.

She rolled her eyes, grinning, and took his hand.

He pulled her up, making sure her feet left the ground for a little bit. Grinning at her, he turned and continued walking. "So, any ideas as to where to set up camp?"

She smirked. "Well, you're meant to be the brain of the group, as you've stated many times before," she teased. "I bet you'll attract all the zombies."

"True, I guess that's one problem you don't have to worry about." He smirked, intentionally bumping into her. "C'mon, be serious."

"Uh… probably some place where the zombies can't get to us." She shot him a play glare before he could say anything. "Yes, I know that's obvious. Err… how about… a house, temporarily? We can go in, kill anything we encounter that wants to eat us. There might be some food left in the cupboards and fridge," she suggested.

"And obviously eat the things that wanna eat us," he joked. "Yeah, it's possible. We also might find some better weapons, but I honestly kinda doubt it."

"A house it is," she concluded. Jess glanced around. "So… uh, how do we get out of this forest? I don't think there will be much of a chance of finding a house here."

"And if we do, we'll probably be stuck up by a redneck with a shotty." He laughed. "Wait here for a sec."

He turned to the nearest tree, springing up and climbing it. He vanished into the leaves quickly.

Jess nodded and waited. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard the crunching of leaves. She spun around, her knife ready, but saw nothing. Cautiously, she lowered her knife, but kept it firmly in her hand. "Jaydon, you should probably, uh… hurry."

Her eyes searched the landscape carefully and anxiously.

He dropped out of the tree a little behind her just as another one of the grotesque creatures shambled towards her. His blade stuck into the creatures head like a knife holder, and it went down with him. "Saved your life." He smirked up at her.

She rolled her eyes, smirking. "I _knew_ that thing was nearby. I just couldn't see it." She raised her chin. "I could've dealt with it when it got to me!"

"Mhmm, surrrre. Probably would've wound up with a torn up jacket."

He laughed, and walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder and pulling her close.

"So, from what I saw, the woods extend about a mile in front of us without ending. To that side, there's a smallish city, maybe get supplies later. I saw a den to the other side, which we could probably cozy up as a home."

"I _could've_ taken it!" she insisted, much more firmly this time. "Okay… then let's go to that cave you saw."

"Alrighty, sounds good." He turned to the side he'd pointed towards and went that way, slashing his way through the underbrush.

Jessica followed, kicking boredly at a stone for a few minutes before discarding it. She yelped as a loud, rasping moan sounded behind her. She turned, immediately tackling the limping creature as she stabbed her knife into its eye repeatedly, only stopping and getting to her feet when it went still.

Jaydon turned, smirking down at her. "Oh, look, you killed one. Nice job." He gave her a teasing thumbs up.

Jess stood up, brushing down her black leather jacket. She play-glared at him. "I _told_ you I could handle myself!" she huffed good-naturedly, but with the satisfaction that she had proven herself.

Jaydon rolled his eyes and cuffed her lightly. "Oh don't get cocky. You killed one. How many have _I_ killed so far?" He smirked at her, intending it to be a joke.

"Soon I'll overtake your score," she grinned.

"Wow. Such cockiness. Maybe I'll have to give you a show of how to _really_ kill those damn things." He winked, turning and continuing the walk towards the den. He slowed down, looking around. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and a horrid feeling of overbearing danger come over him.

Jess felt the same feeling of dread. "I guess this is the time where I can beat your high score," she managed to joke, slowly unsheathing her knife.

Jaydon had already unsheathed his blade, holding it near him. His eyes kept darting around, in anticipation for what he knew was about to happen. _Whelp… I hope she doesn't mind seeing me go ham…_ he thought to himself.

She gasped as the mangled bodies exploded from the heavy undergrowth around them. There were at least a few dozen of the creatures, all of them with the same desire - to kill any survivors they encounter, to feast on their flesh and turn them into one of their own.

Seeing all the creatures burst from the undergrowth sent a chill down Jaydon's spine, but another emotion rose in his chest: excitement. Bloodlust. He could finally let loose. He turned quickly, going to work on the horde surrounding them with an honest to god smile on his face.

Jess leapt, tackling one of the disgusting, flesh-hungry creatures. She slammed her elbow down into its face before striking her knife deep into its head. She turned, ready to attack a second one.

Jaydon turned quickly, having decapitated three already. His eyes flash, seeing a massive group of them shambling towards Jess. _Shit… damn it, I have to!_

He let out a bloodthirsty yell, pulling his rage forward. His normally black hair started to flutter in a non-existant breeze, then turned a bright golden. Nearly an instant after, he had sprung into the horde, twisting and slashing at any of the grotesque monsters that were near him, felling them one by one.

Jess turned her head, her eyes widening at the sight of Jaydon. _What…?_ She almost let her guard down. A zombie grabbed her leg, and she fell over. She thrashed about, kicking her foot into its horrifying face. The zombie growled, widening its jaws for a bite. Jess screamed and threw her knife out of desperation. Its point connected with the zombie's eye, the blade going right through. Her attacker fell limp, and Jess breathed a shaky sigh of relief. She barely had time to scramble to her feet before she was attacked again, tackled to the ground by another one of the walkers.

Desperate to prove that she could handle herself, she pushed up against the zombie, screaming as the zombie's jaws clamped down half an inch away from her arm. She held her arm against the zombie's neck, pushing it away as it snapped at her. She gasped with defeat as another zombie shambled towards her. The biter Jess had struck down earlier still had her knife embedded in its bloodshot eye. She scrambled towards it, all the while keeping the creature that had her pinned to the ground away from her.

The knife was an inch away from her fingers, and the approaching zombie was only a few meters away. With a desperate grunt, she clasped her hand around the hilt of her knife, and forcibly pulled it from the fallen creature's face.

Jess yelled and stabbed her attacker in the face, and it fell limp.

Just as she began to heave the dead body off of her, the second walker fell onto her, scratching at the sleeves of her jacket, worsening the weight. She kicked at it, increasing the distance between its jaws and her neck, and giving Jess the amount of distance needed to lift her arm and stab the blade into its forehead, taking its 'life'.

She now had mutliple bodies stacked on top of her, putting on a weight that she could not lift away easily.

This whole time, Jaydon had been hacking away at the massive horde that was gathering around them. Limbs flew around, launched off of their bodies from the force of his rage-fueled attacks.

Finally managing to have cleared the walking bodies from around him, he turned, seeing them piling onto Jess. His anger flared again, and he grabbed each one by their neck and threw them off Jess, yelling, " _No-one touches my Jess!_ "

He turned to the creatures he had thrown, and began to mercilessly destroy them, one by one.

Jess pushed herself to her feet. Blood covered her face, arms and legs. "Th-thanks," she managed shakily. Her knife was clutched in her trembling hands. She had never been so close to the face of death. She kicked at an approaching biter, pushing it over before stabbing her knife into the back of its head.

Jaydon's rage hadn't diminished it the slightest. He kept leaping around, any creature that moved in the bushes was mercilessly slaughtered. It was a bloody side of him that rivaled the fear inspired by the biters.

Jess watched, feeling a hint of fear at Jaydon's rage. _How is he doing all this?_ she wondered with astonishment. She felt a walker approach her from behind, and she swung around, her knife slicing a large gash in its face. She kicked it to the ground before leaning down and stabbing the blade of her knife into its face.

Jaydon stepped back. No more movement came from around them, and the only sound was the hard panting that was coming from him. He was covered in blood, but didn't seem to be the least bit disturbed by it.

Jess straightened, sheathing her knife. Summoning the courage, she approached Jaydon, placing her hand on his arm.

"Jay… how did you do… you know… _that_?"

He kept panting, not noticing her nearby. A wave of exhaustion came over him, and he fell backwards. His hair turning back to black, and his eyes closed. He was still panting, despite having passed out.

"Jaydon! Jaydon?"

No reply.

"Great… now I'll have to find that cave he was talking about… while dragging him along."

With a half-hearted sigh, she began carefully hauling him with one hand through the forest, weaving between trees and hacking down bushes that blocked her path.

He was a lot lighter than would be expected. Luckily for Jessica, the cave wasn't very far, and a minute or so later it came into view. It was well hidden from sight.

Jess stopped, taking a break to look around and view her surroundings. She tilted her head as she noticed a hole gaping from the ground, presumably the mouth of a cave. She slowly dragged Jaydon towards it, pushing her way through the vines as she entered the dark den. She set Jaydon down at the back of the cave, taking off her jacket and lumping it into a ball before setting it under his head as a pillow.

His breathing had calmed significantly, which was odd given how little time he'd been out. His face was in a closed eyed scowl.

Jess glanced at his face, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She leaned back against the wall of the cave, closing her eyes as she rested, the blood of a long scratch on her arm drying slowly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Jaydon's eyes slowly opened an hour or so after the incident with the horde. He yawed and stretched out slowly, his muscles rippling. "Ugh… what happened…?"

Jess looked down at him from where she was attempting to light a fire. "Huh? Oh… you don't remember?" She looked surprised.

"No… can't say I do…" He yawned again, blinking. "You're doing it wrong."

She smirked. "I figured that, like… thirty minutes ago."

"Then why were you still trying to do it?" He laughed.

"Well…" Jess shrugged, but on an act of being miserable. "I was just trying to be useful…"

He smiled and made his way over to her, showing her how to do it. "Try knocking the sparks into a little nest."

"Okay…"

She did as Jaydon instructed, a few times getting it wrong before getting the hang of it.

He smiled and watched as the kindling started to smoke.

"I did it!" she grinned. "I mean… uh, thanks!"

"You're welcome. Cheeky li'l bugger." He smirked, ruffling her hair up.

Jess stuck her tongue out at him, grinning, before turning back to the fire.

"Now that we've got a fire… should we find some food? And water?"

"Yeah. Oh, do you have any, like, food allergies or anything?"

"Nope," she replied. "I can eat anything. Especially you," she grinned.

"Go ahead, try it." He smirked at her, laughing.

"Nah. Your meat would be too tough. Can't believe those biters would still want to eat you," she joked, laughing.

He blushed, thinking she was complimenting him. "Uhhh...thanks?"

Jess giggled. "That wasn't a compliment, but I guess you can take it that way," she grinned.

Jaydon raised an eyebrow, then grinned. "Shoulda figured you weren't complimenting me."

"Yeah. I'd _never_ do that," she teased jokingly.

He smiled and hugged her waist. "I really kinda like you Jess."

Jess blushed, smiling as she looked up at him. "Of course you do," she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss.

Jaydon blushed too, smiling and relaxing as he kissed her back.

She pulled away for a moment. "Just don't go killing yourself, okay? Or I'll never forgive you," she grinned.

He laughed and smiled down at her. "Like _I'm_ gonna get killed. That's fun."

"It sure is," she smiled jokingly. "I've been close to it before."

"I bet." He rolled his eyes. "So who wants to go get food and water?"

"You get the food, if you're going to hunt," she told him instantly. "I, err… get a bit queasy around guts and stuff." She smirked. "Surprising that I'm saying that, seeing that we're surrounded by flesh-crazed cannibals that have intestines and guts spilling out of their chests and… uh, you get the picture." She grinned sheepishly.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, alright. I can handle hunting, and I'll do the gutting away from the den. Get some water and veggies, we'll have us a nice stew."

"Sounds good. And remember - I _can_ handle myself out there." She smiled and turned away, pushing through the vines that overhung the entrance to the cave.

"Duly noted." He laughed and headed out too, his eyes sweeping around the nearby area for any signs of prey to kill.

Jess pushed her way through the forest at a jog, dodging trees and leaping over fallen logs. She came to a halt as she sighted a small wooden hut beside a lake. Curiosity nagged at her, and she placed her hand on the hilt of her knife as she pushed the door of the hut open and stepped through the entrance.

She heard a raspy gurgling sound coming from the room beside her. Unsheathing her knife, she kicked open the door, and a shape shambled out towards her, screeching. Jess dismissively stabbed her blade into its skull before pulling it out again, the creature falling limp. She continued her search for valuable items.

Jaydon walked deeper into the forest, his eyes and ears working overtime, straining to detect any sort of actual edible life around. His efforts were eventually rewarded, as he heard the crunching of leaves behind him. Turning slowly, he saw a small doe in a clearing, lapping at a pond. _Diiinnneeeerrrrr…_.. he thought to himself as he drew his blade. Rotating it slowly, he held it by the blade, then threw it at the doe. The blade sunk into its neck, and the doe fell over, dying painlessly. He walked over, pulling his blade free and carrying the doe to a safe place to prepare it.

Jess grinned with triumph as she held up a bucket which was a bit rusty and dented, but still usable. She began searching the cupboards, not finding much of use. Her eyes fixed on something on the wall of the hut. She walked over and smiled. It was a bow, along with some arrows in a quiver that lay on the floor beneath it.

' _Silent and ranged… this'll be great.'_

Jessica headed out of the hut and to the lake beside it. She scooped her bucket into the water, filling it with water.

Jaydon was waiting in the cave, carefully roasting the doe over the fire. "Welcome back."

Jess smiled as she pushed her way into the den. "Thanks." She slung her bow from her shoulders, handing it to him. "I found this, along with a quiver and some arrows. And a bucket, which I used to collect the water."

"Oh, wow!" He smiled, clapping for her as she entered. "Lookit Ms. Moneybags over here, rollin' it in!" He teased, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "At least I found something! How about a _'thank you'_?"

"How about a _thank you_ for hunting for you? Ungrateful li'l sod." He winked at her.

"So you'd prefer that I shoot you with this bow?" she play glared at him challengingly.

"YEAH! COME AT ME BRO!" He laughed wildly.

She gave him a gentle slap across the cheek. "Shh. Are you trying to bring all the biters here?" she smirked, giggling. "I'll make sure you're the first one to get eaten."

He laughed a little less, smiling at her happily. "Nice find. Looks like you're the looter of the party." He smirked.

"What's that? You're actually calling me _useful?_ " she joked.

"Hey, finding a bow of that durability is worthy of some praise. Not much, but some. I mean, I probably could've found a better one, but it'll do." He grinned at her.

"So modest." She smirked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

He laughed again, patting her butt and stealing the bucket from her. "I'll be taking THIS. Yoink." He set it next to the fire to boil.

Jess play glared at him as she sat down, leaning her back against the wall of the cave. "Any plans for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we'll want to visit that city tomorrow. Get some more supplies, probably another ranged weapon for either of us to use. I'm good with a bow, but you'll probably need the ranged weapon more than I will. We'll also want to upgrade our blades if possible, and get some better food stocks. Once we're at that point, we can start on the base."

"Sounds exciting," she smiled. "I was thinking about getting a crossbow. That'd be great for me. Maybe some throwing knives, too."

"Yeah, you'll need all the weapons you can get for when I'm not here to watch your arse." He laughed. "I'm thinking either some javelins or a longbow. Maybe both. A decent gun would be nice too, if we find any other survivors. They might stick us up."

"I can survive just fine without you!" she huffed, raising her chin. "I mean… not that I would want to separate from you," she added quickly.

She'd added the last part too late. He was already going to abuse the set up. "OH WOW, I SEE HOW IT IS. YOU DON'T WANT ME AROUND ANYMORE, THAT'S FINE." He stood up and walked out of the den, fake sobbing.

Jess thought that she had actually hurt his feelings, and watched him with wide eyes. She darted after him. "Wait! I didn't mean it like that…"

Jaydon thought she was just carrying the joke further, and decided to exaggerate even more. "N-No, g-go away! I can t-take a h-hint!" He tried forcing himself to make actual tears, but to no avail.

"Huh? Jaydon, I'm sorry." She stared at him.

He turned to her, seeing her actual concern, and went wide-eyed. "Oh, shit… you thought I was serious?"

"What? You weren't serious?" She breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Yeah, I thought you were."

"No! God, no!" He laughed. "Trust me, you'll know if my feelings are actually hurt. I make it blatantly obvious."

Jess grinned, her eyes shining with relief. "Okay. So, are we going to eat, or what?"

She pointed towards the cave.

His stomach growled as she said that, and it growled loudly. "Ummm… I think that's a confirmed there." He smiled and went back into the cave, drooling as the venison finished cooking. "Oh, god… I haven't had venison in so long…"

"You look like a sick puppy drooling like that," she teased, following him in.

"Shhhhh… Did you get any vegetables while you were out, or no luck?"

Jess shook her head. "Didn't find any. I guess the meat and water will have to do for now."

Jaydon smiled, taking the meat up and tearing it into manageable chunks, dividing them between the two, and moving the water away from the flames. "Boiled for a while, so it'll be safe to drink once it's cooled."

She nodded, taking some of the meat and nibbling at it before looking up. "Oh, I almost forgot to ask… Jay, is there something… _different_ about you?" she asked quietly.

"What do you mean by different?" He was devouring his food hungrily.

"Different as in… having some abilities that regular humans don't."

"Well, I guess I do. Why's it matter?" He was getting a bit defensive.

Jess raised her hands. "Uh… I guess it doesn't matter," she said quickly. "Nevermind." She sighed, and went on with eating.

Jaydon looked back down at his food, setting it down. "Sorry… I just… a lot of buried memories."

Jess placed her hand on his arm, looking at him. "It's okay. If you don't feel comfortable telling me, then there's nothing I can do but respect that wish."

He looked over at her, then smiled weakly. "You… you kinda deserve to know. I mean… we've become a team, right?"

"Yeah, we have…" she smiled. "You should only tell me if you want to, though. I can't make you do anything."

"It'll take a while to tell you about. So… get comfy wherever." He leaned back against the cave wall, taking the bucket and sipping some of the hot water.

Jess nodded, sitting down close beside Jaydon and leaning her head against his shoulder as she looked down at her blood-smeared hands.

He smiled down at her, then saw her hands. "You wanna go wash off first?" He laughed.

She grinned up at him, then waved her bloody hands in front of his face, a centimetre or so away from his nose, then stood up. "Alright. I'll go to the lake. I don't think I should waste any of the water I collected."

"Agreed. Oh, see if you can find any veggies on the way. If you do, I could cook 'em up in the bucket."

"Okay, I'll try," she agreed, smiling. She pushed her way out of the den and headed for the lake. She soon reached it and knelt down, rinsing her hands off in the water and splashing some of it in her face, wiping the blood from her cheeks and nose.

She returned to the den later, a carrot in her hand and her hair dripping from the water. The blood and dirt was gone now.

He smiled up at her as she returned. "There, that's the beautiful Jess I fell for."

Jess blushed, smiling. She sat down beside Jaydon again, snuggling against him.

He blushed and smiled, petting her head. "Well, where to start… What would you like to know first?"

"Wherever your story starts, I guess."

"Well… I lived with my parents until I was eighteen. It was a… rough environment, to say the least… my dad and my brother didn't really get along with me very well."

"Oh… why's that?" she asked.

He had a few memories of his father and his brother rough-housing with him as a very young boy. "... I had a different viewpoint than they did, to say the least."

"What do you mean? How did they see things?"

"They… were ...rough. I wasn't." He sighed, pulling his head to the side and exposing a large scar on his neck.

Jess wasn't sure what to say. "Well, I'm glad you're not rough… like they were."

She ran her fingers down his scar gently.

He shivered lightly, sighing. "Thanks. My mom was like me, my dad… abused her. In front of my brother and I. My brother beat me up while he was beating her." He sighed, closing his eyes painfully.

Jess's eyes widened with sympathy. "I'm sorry…"

"Thanks…" A single tear fell from his face to the cave floor. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"You don't have to keep talking about it if you don't want to," she told him gently, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"I-It's nothing. I'm okay."

"If you're sure," she whispered, hugging him.

He blushed down at her, hugging her back. Suddenly, a voice came from outside the cave. "Little brother, didn't father teach you anything?!" Jaydon's eyes suddenly went wide and angry.

Jess didn't seem to hear the voice, and glanced up at him. "Is something wrong?"

"N-No. N-n-nothing is w-wrong." Jaydon was clearly enraged. He stood up, his black hair turning golden. "Just stay h-here."

"Um… okay…" She blinked with confusion. "Whatever you're doing, be careful…"

He didn't acknowledge that she'd said anything, stepping out of the cave.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 6**

Jaydon came crashing to the ground just outside the cave, where Jess had been waiting, with a loud burst of sound.

Jess peeked out of the den. "Hey, Jay- Jaydon?!" She froze, staring at him. "What happened to you?"

No response. His body was covered in blood, and contorted in a way that was obviously not natural.

"Oh, God…" She gently hauled him into the den, setting him down with his back against the wall of the cave. She held her hand against his forehead, which was burning up with fever. Her eyes moved to his limbs, which were scratched up, bruised and angled in an abnormal way.

He was still unresponsive. His normally powerful brown eyes were nothing but cold pools of white, and his hair was its normal black.

"Your limbs are all broken… you're knocked out cold… How am I going to cope like this?" She stared at him, feeling helpless. "I guess I'll have to start somewhere…"

Jess headed out of the den, picking up sticks of all sizes, making sure they were straight enough to be a suitable splint for his broken arms and legs.

She returned later and leaned down beside him, taking off her jacket and tying the arms of it around his neck while setting his arm in the body of it, before propping the splint against his arm. She did the same for his other arm, except this time she used her black scarf.

Jess turned her head, looking at him, and all she wanted right now was a hug and a kiss, but she knew she couldn't. Sighing, she rested her head against the cave floor, closing her eyes and falling into a deep slumber.

The next morning, Jaydon was still resting when Jess woke up. He was in far better shape than the night before: almost uncannily better.

Jess rubbed her eyes, propping herself up against the cave wall. Her eyes lit up as she gazed at Jaydon. "You're better!" she gasped, even though she was pretty much talking to herself, as Jaydon was still asleep. Her heart swelled with joy.

Almost as though woken from a dream, Jaydon whined quietly, then reached up and wiped his eyes. "Buuuhhhh…" He basically growled, not remembering much of the previous day.

"Jaydon?" Jess whispered hopefully.

"Hunh…?" His eyes drifted upwards, brightening when they reached Jess's face. "Oh… hey Jess…"

She immediately began showering him with questions.

"How are you feeling?"

"Is everything okay?"

"What happened out there?"

"Are you hungry?"

"Woah, woah, woah! One question at a time there, killer." He laughed and smiled.

Jess grinned happily, her eyes seeming to dance. She reached out to hug him, but stopped, scared that she might hurt him.

"Now then, to answer the first question, let's take a look." Jaydon jumped to his feet effortlessly, not the slightest sign of fatigue or injury on him. He began throwing punches and kicks at the air, faster than he ever had.

Jess watched him. "Dang, you're making me jealous. Now I wish I was a saiyan," she smiled.

Jaydon stopped, standing still in the middle of the cave, grinning over at her. "Everyone does nowadays, it's all the rage. I still haven't gotten a hug or anything from you. I NEARLY DIED YOU KNOW."

"Well, I was _going_ to…" she told him innocently, standing up and walking over, pressing her face against his shoulder as she pulled him into a tight hug.

Jaydon sighed softly, holding her tight and resisting the urge to cry. Even though he'd only been unconscious for a day, it had felt like an eternity of loneliness.

Jess pulled away and looked up at his face, smiling. "I'm so glad you're okay…" she whispered.

"I'm glad that I'm okay… And I'm glad that you're glad." He teased.

"But you're not glad that _I'm_ okay?" she grinned jokingly.

"Sorry that I'm a bit more concerned about myself. Ya know, almost dying and everything."

"You're so selfless, aren't you," she giggled.

"Hey, I didn't let Brayden hurt you, now did I?" He grinned, roughing her hair up.

She glared at him as she straightened her hair back down. "Wait… Brayden? Your brother did this? So you weren't exaggerating about him being… rough."

His eyes grew serious. "Yeah, that was my brother Brayden. And no… I wasn't. My dad's even worse."

"Then let's pray that we don't run into your dad… Do you think you could recover in one day if your dad beats you up?"

"That depends on if I survive or not." He shuddered, painful memories of childhood beatings slamming into him like a train.

"Okay, let's not talk about that…" She was tearing up just from the thought of losing Jaydon. "Do you have any plans for today?"

"Well, I've only just recently come back to life." He smirked at her.

Jess rolled her eyes, smiling. "Well, you've been showing off already. Seems like you're in good enough shape to do some raiding."

"Understatement of the week."

"Well, I'm bored out of my mind. You want me to do all the raiding?" She kicked a stone boredly.

"Well that depends. Do you want my dazzling personality to help brighten your mood?" He smiled at her, wrapping an arm around her neck.

She grinned, looking up at him. "How about we replace _dazzling_ with _annoying_?" she teased.

He made an exaggerated sad face. "Y-you th-think I'm a-an-noying?"

"The most annoying thing in the world," she confirmed, laughing as she poked his nose.

He sniffled, looking down and trying to seem as dejected as possible.

"That expression is the cutest thing I've ever seen. I think I'll keep you, just for that," she grinned.

"You no wuvs meh anymoar…" He sighed.

"Okay, I give up!" She ran and hugged him, giggling.

He smirked and hugged her tight, then turned and kissed her cheek.

Jess smiled, pulling him closer towards her as she leaned up on her toes, kissing him softly.

Jaydon felt a quiet sigh slip past his lips as they kissed. His mood brightening simply from how close she was to him.

She pulled away, looking at him affectionately. "So… do you need anything? Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"I'm famished, and I need to head to the river to get some water. Aside from that, I'm all good." He gave her a loving smile.

"Okay, but if you need anything, just tell me," she told him, returning his smile with one of her own.

"I will. Promise." He smiled.

"Be careful," she told him. "There was a walker in the cabin that I raided beside the river, but I didn't check all the rooms. There might be another one."

"Alright, I'll stop by there while I hunt. Maybe there'll be more stuff in there." He grabbed the bow from its position near the cave entrance, along with the quiver, and raced out of the cave.

Jess watched him leave, then headed out into the forest, unsure of what she'd find. She just felt like going for a walk.

Jaydon jumped up into the trees, making his way towards the cabin through the trees. His eyes swept across the forest beneath him.

Hearing a familiar gurgling, rasping sound, Jess instinctively reached for her knife, spinning around as she drew it out. It connected with the side of the zombie's face, and it hissed, reaching for her with its fleshy, ragged hands. Jess kicked it backwards before driving her knife into its eye, then pulling it back out. Sighing with relief, she straightened. She didn't even have the time to sheathe her knife before more sounds rang through the forest, coming from all around her. She yelped as the mangled bodies stepped out from the bushes, limping towards her, their mouths gaping as they growled, their yellow, rotten teeth dripping with discolored saliva.

Her eyes flicked from one to the other, and she counted nine at most. Tightly gripping the hilt of her knife, she attacked, hoping to throw down their numbers before they encircled her completely. Yelling, she easily tackled the first zombie, slamming the blade of her knife right into its nose. She pulled it out again, then went onto the next.

Right when she thought she had a chance, two zombies tumbled towards her, their hands scrabbling at her arms and legs, trying to get a good grip. She screamed as she fell backwards, and the zombies toppled right down over her, snarling, as the one nearest to her opened its jaws.  
Jess flailed, but her knife had been knocked out of her hand, and it now lay too far from reach.

Jaydon's voice came from a little ways away in the trees, cockier than ever. "Bang." A small red beam fired from his finger, which was pointed towards the zombies like a gun. It pierced through the skulls of the two that had her pinned, making a disgusting splat sound. He leapt down from the tree, landing at the base with a smirk.

Jess gasped for breath, pushing herself to her feet.

"I could've taken... " She didn't finish, and instead just threw herself into Jaydon's arms.

"Thanks, I guess," she mumbled.

"Shhhhh." He smiled at her, holding her tight.

She smiled back at him, her eyes shining with relief. "So… did you find anything at the cabin?"

"I never managed to get that far, what with you and your shenanigans." He grinned teasingly.

"I could've taken them!" she huffed, but inside, she knew she had been closer to becoming a walker than she ever had before.

"That's a load of shit, and you know it." He looked down at her scoldingly.

"Maybe…" she admitted reluctantly. "But I can handle myself… as long as there aren't too many. But I'll learn. I prefer ranged combat rather than close up and personal."

"Maybe we should do all of our foraging together then. You know that I prefer melee combat to ranged any day."

"Yeah. And I guess we make a pretty good team. While you fight the walkers, I can back you up and make sure none of them get too close."

"Or rather I can make sure they don't get close to you." He smirked teasingly.

"If I have a ranged weapon, then I can do better when it comes to fighting these things. I can keep them far enough away that I wouldn't… need you to… back me up." She wasn't sure how to say the last part, afraid that he might see her as ungrateful.

He rolled his eyes. "Jess, I'm already well aware of how that would help. The hours of battle strategy shoved down my throat by Brayden and my dad kind of… helped, I guess." He spat out the last part. Even the thought of his brother and father helping him made him sick.

"I just don't want to seem weak… especially with all… this going on. I want you to trust me," she shrugged, speaking uncertainly.

"I do trust you, Jess. But I don't want you to view me helping you as me thinking you're weak, or that you can't handle yourself. Honestly, being able to accept help graciously makes you stronger than me." He smiled at her warmly.

"I do accept your help. I just didn't want to seem weak… but thanks. For not seeing me as someone who can't defend themselves," she smiled at him gratefully. "I don't want this to be like those stereotypical stories, where it's always the prince saving the princess. I've got your back, too." She grinned at him.

"Don't worry. I'll get myself into a death situation soon enough. And hey, who was the one that healed me up when my brother near deathed me?" He grinned at her.

Jess blushed, feeling her modest side taking over her. "Well… I only did what I could… You would've been fine by yourself. You healed in one day, and you surely could've done that without my help, right?"

"I wouldn't be too sure. I've never been that close to dead before." He smiled, kissing her cheek.

Jess smiled, her eyes shining. She pressed her lips against his gently before pulling away.

Jaydon blushed as he gazed at her. _'Well...okay then…'_ He smiled. "Hey, Jess? I have an idea."

"Yeah? An idea about feeding you to the biters? Great!" she joked. "Just kidding. Anyway, what is it?"

He rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair up, knowing how much that aggravated her. "Well, since you've been so concerned about how 'unable you are to protect yourself', how about I train you in martial arts? Then you won't be totally screwed over if you get disarmed."

"Yes!" she agreed instantly, her eyes brightening.

He smiled. "Awesome. It'll give me a chance to train myself up too."

Only then did Jess realise her hair situation. "Wait - dammit!" She glared at him as she straightened her hair back down, glaring at Jaydon as she did so.

He grinned big at her. "Took you long enough. Maybe I'll improve your reflexes too."

"I have the reflexes of a cat!" she huffed. "And you just distracted me, that's all."

"Suuuuuurrrrrrre." He laughed.

Jess slapped his face gently, glaring at him despite the amusement that shone in her eyes.

He fell backwards, holding his face. "O-OWWW! TH-THAT H-HURT!" He play whined.

Jess's eyes flew open in shock, oblivious to the joke. "What? Really? I didn't mean it! Are you okay? I'm sorry!"

Jaydon looked up at her, then curled up, laughing wildly. "O-Ohh my god you're oblivious!"

Her worried expression turned to annoyance. "I assume you're going to make a joke about my stupidity now?" she sighed, laughing quietly.

"Nah, it's already been made." He grinned at her.

"Hey!" she protested, punching his arm as she tackled him.

He giggled wildly and rolled around with her. "Probleeeem?" His face turned into a troll face.

"Yeah!" she laughed, trying to pin him to the ground. "I'm not _that_ stupid! I know stuff!" she insisted, giggling.

He grinned, and stopped fighting, allowing her to 'pin' him to the ground. He stared up at her in mock fear. "Oh noooo! Please don't hurt me Jess!"

"Given up already?" she smirked.

"I beg youuuu!" He managed to force himself to tremble underneath her.

"I'll let you live, because I'm nice." She grinned.

He smirked up at her, then forced her forward and onto her back. "Sorry, what?"

"Hey! Not fair!" she protested, trying to push back up against him.

He kept her pinned, grinning playfully down at her.

She attempted to wriggle out from under him, but couldn't even move. "God… dammit…" she grunted, laughing.

He laughed along with her, touching his nose to hers and smiling ear to ear. "I wuv youuuu."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Jess rubbed her eyes as she woke and propped herself up against the cave wall. She looked over at Jaydon, expecting to see him awake.

He was awake, doing push-ups a little ways off from her and counting silently. He didn't notice her wake.

Jess smiled a little. "I didn't even know you had to work out to keep your strength up. I thought it came naturally for you saiyans. I couldn't ever be able to see you as fat."

He stopped, looking over at her mid push-up. "Well, we do. We just get more out of it because we train harder."

Grinning, she stood up and walked over, sitting on his back.

He smirked, doing them faster with the added weight. "Challenge me more."

She blinked. "Nothing can ever stop you from doing what you're doing," she laughed. She tried to push all her weight down onto him.

He grinned, getting an idea. "Hold tightly onto me." He stopped, keeping himself up.

Trying to guess what he was thinking of, she gripping onto him.

He threw his weight forward, so he was now in a handstand. He began doing push-ups that way, struggling considerably but still doing them.

"Whaa-! Are you trying to throw me off or something?" she laughed.

He didn't respond, focusing on what he was doing.

"You really are serious about your training, aren't you?" she smirked.

He still didn't respond, panting and sweating at this point.

She just watched him, smiling and clinging to his back.

Eventually, he lowered his legs back to the ground and waited for her to get off him. His shirt was drenched, and his arms throbbing a bit.

She climbed off, standing up. "That was fun," she grinned. "You look like you've been standing out in the rain for days."

He laughed and stood up, wiping his face in a futile attempt to dry it. "Heh, that's what being a saiyan is like. All the training in the world, all the sweating in the world. Also, HUNGRY."

Jess perked an eyebrow with amusement. "Then we can get some food. You know, I was thinking about raiding the city nearby. We can get the supplies we need to build our base, the food to last us a few weeks, and the weapons to last us… well, as long as they can."

Jaydon smiled and nodded. "As long as I get lots of food, I'm okay." He grinned like a kid.

Jess smiled and poked his nose. "Then let's go. Do you want to use the bow, or should I?"

Jaydon laughed, pushing her hand away. "You should. Get some practice so we aren't _totally_ screwed when we encounter the zombies," he teased.

She laughed with him, and slung the bow over her shoulder and headed out of the den. She looked back at Jaydon over her shoulder. "Ready when you are."

He nodded, grabbing his sword and slinging it at his waist. "Follow."

He started to walk out of the den, towards the ruined city they'd found earlier, the sound of crunching leaves and branches following him.

Jess nodded and walked behind him, enjoying the fresh chill of the morning.

"How far is it?" she asked after they had been walking for a bit.

"Ehhh, roundabout two miles from the cave." He stretched out, his shirt drying in the warm, morning sun.

She nodded and quickened her pace a little to walk beside him, taking his hand in hers.

He smiled over at her, stepping carefully over the brambles and sticks in the ground.

Jess quickened her pace even further as a city came into view. "Over there! We're close. Finally."

"Yeah, we kinda are. So we need to slow down, stay more hidden."

"Mhm. As you know, I _am_ a master of stealth," she grinned.

"Master of no stealth, that's for sure." He ribbed her playfully, then dropped lower to the ground, slowly making his way towards the nearest building.

She laughed before falling silent as she copied Jaydon's actions, lowering to the ground and sneaking forward.

He crept up on the first building, waiting for Jess to catch up before quietly opening the door.

"What kind of store is this?" she whispered, following him carefully.

"Take a look." He stepped aside, revealing massive amounts of weapons on the walls. The building was a bit run down from the outbreak of zombies, but still in very good shape.

"Oh, perfect!" She made her way over to a wall, and took down a crossbow. "This is what I was looking for!"

"GET DOWN!" he yelled, leaping forward and knocking her to the ground as a walker's bloody, misshapen hands swiped at where her head was a moment ago. He drew his blade, thrusted it into the creature's head, then sheathed it again.

Her hands instinctively reached for her face, and she watched through the gaps between her fingers. She stood again, shivering. "Oh… thanks."

He turned quickly, his guard up. "Barricade the door. We don't want anyone getting in without us knowing."

"Good idea," she agreed quietly, still a bit shaken as she walked over to the door. She picked up a wooden plank before placing it across two hooks on the door.

While she did so, he swiftly jumped behind the counter, where a zombie's groans had been coming from. He jammed the blade of his sword into the zombie's skull, then pulled it out with a sickening hiss.

Jess looked up. "Huh. Can't catch a break from these creatures, can we?"

"Nope." He sheathed his blade again, then scanned his eyes across the walls. "Take your pick. These are all ours now." He grinned, heading for a large katana on the far wall.

"I'll take the crossbow," she said, slinging it over her back. She crossed the room, picking up a belt of throwing knives. "And these," she added as she tied them across her shoulder to her waist. She picked up a knuckleduster. "This'd come in handy in case I get disarmed."

"With what I'm teaching you you should be fine without 'em, but your decision I guess." He gingerly grabbed the katana off the wall, then a loud crack came from the door.

Jess smirked. "I know, but I guess the more the power, the better." Her eyes flicked towards the door in alarm as soon as she heard the bang. "Time to go?" she suggested.

"One second. I need a ranged weapon." He looked around the room. "HURRR, WHAT DO I PICK?" He seemed torn between javelins and a hand crossbow.

"Just take the first thing you think of! Hurry! We can come back here if we have to. Just hurry!" She looked distraught about the amount of zombies clawing at the door.

He grabbed five javelins off the wall at her urging, turning and whipping one into a zombie's head. "Heh… heheheheheh…"

"If we're gonna die, at least you'll die laughing," she grunted as she took aim with her crossbow, firing a quarrel into a zombie's face. It collapsed and she aimed for another.

He drew the katana, grinning wildly. "Heeeehehehehee…."

He leapt forward, swinging the katana in a massive sweep. The skulls of multiple zombies cracked at the impact, yielding more laughs from Jaydon. "This just became fun."

"Always knew you were crazy." Three more fell, and there was now a clear path, but more zombies were closing in fast. "Let's make a run for it!"

"Don't need to tell me twice." He grinned and ran through the opening, swinging a massive swipe at the nearby zombies.

She grabbed her bolts from the fallen zombies' heads as she passed their limp bodies, and quickly aimed her crossbow at an approaching walker, firing. She raced after Jaydon.

He glanced back at the city, feeling his hunger growing. "Fuck… I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I NEED FOOD!" He turned, rushing towards the hoard and cleaving through it with massive swings of the katana.

Jess sighed as she watched, shaking her head with amusement. "You weren't kidding about your intense desire for food," she called after him.

Jaydon barely heard her as he worked his way through the horde and towards a grocery store. He seemed to start to struggle a bit, as walker after walker laid their hands on him.

Jess shot down the biters closest to Jaydon. "Be careful!"

He suddenly crossed his arms in front of him, then let out a loud yell and stretched them out. The creatures around him all got sent back a ways, landing on their backs. His eyes searched around almost animalistically for food.

She waited, shooting down any zombies that threatened her or Jaydon.

He ran into the grocery store. A loud struggle erupted from the building, along with lots of swearing. A few minutes later, Jaydon emerged carrying tons of backpacks, and he was covered with blood. "I GOT THE FOOD!" he yelled as he ran towards her.

"Uh… I see." She nodded and turned, starting to sprint back in the direction of the cave.

He ran quickly, catching up with her. He had a huge grin, his eyes flickering with excitement.

"What's gotten into you?" she panted as she ran beside him.

"I haven't gotten to actually try in a fight in so long!" He laughed and smiled.

"So violent," she grinned.

"At least it ain't directed towards you." He grinned back. "Plus I have a ton of food."

"That's good, I guess. Just don't go eating everything in one go."

"Awwww…" He frowned like a kid caught with a cookie.

She smirked and glanced behind her. The biters were barely in sight. "I think we can slow down now, if you want."

"I think the better question is whether or not YOU want to slow down," he teased.

"I'm not fat!" she insisted. "I can run!"

"I never said you were fat. I just said that not all sprinters have great endurance," he said innocently.

"I can keep going."

"Then let's keep going." He jogged alongside her, holding five backpacks all crammed full of food.

"You want me to carry some of the load?" she offered, pointing at the backpacks.

"I got it." He smiled. "The cave is up there anyways." He pointed to a little outcropping in the ground.

"Alright." Jess slowed to a jog as they approached the cave, drawing her crossbow in case any zombies had found their cave while she and Jaydon were away.

He set the backpacks down a little way off, grabbing some rope and looking back at her. "Stay here for a second." He went into the cave, and the sounds of a minor struggle came from it, followed by Jaydon's voice. "Alright, you're good!"

Jess walked into the cave, setting her crossbow down on the floor. "It's a shame those zombies attacked us in the city when they did," she sighed. "We could've gotten some more things."

Jaydon had tied up a zombie and thrown it in the corner of the room. "Yeah, but we can go back tomorrow. Just remember that. Also, I got you a live practice dummy for our training." He grinned at her, gesturing to the tied-up zombie in the corner.

She blinked at it. "Dang. I kinda feel sad for it, but I guess they don't really feel pain." She smiled, sitting down."You know, I've been thinking… what if we're not the only survivors?"

"I've thought about it too. It's not a pleasant thought. Remember Brayden?"

"Yeah, but… there's bound to be _some_ good survivors out there who don't kill other humans and actually care about preserving our race."

"It's possible, I suppose. As long as you dun leave meh, I'm okie wif it." He winked and smiled.

She grinned. "I wouldn't leave you. You'd die the minute I was gone."

"I think you have it backwards. Who's the one teaching who martial arts?" he teased, poking her ribs.

"Who's the one who comes up with brilliant ideas like raiding the city for weapons and food?" she shot back, grinning.

"Who's the one that keeps saving your ass from the biters?" he retorted, elbowing her playfully.

"I can handle them!" she huffed, her eyes shining with amusement.

"You sure about that? One of 'em about took your head off." He grinned at her.

"I'd keep fighting even _after_ my head gets ripped off!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey, remember what I said that first day we stopped at my house? Yeah I'll do that again." He smirked at her.

"Not before I feed you to the walkers!" she grinned.

"Is that a challenge?" He turned, taking a little step closer to her, his smile growing.

"Maybe!" She skipped around him.

He grabbed her waist as she went around him, pulling her over to him and giving her a somewhat hard kiss.

She yelped with surprise before smiling, leaning into the kiss.

He smiled, relaxing a lot and enjoying it before biting her tongue and releasing her with a laugh.

She glared at him playfully as she pulled away. "That hurt!" she laughed.

"Sure it did." He rolled his eyes, smiling happily at her.

She grinned back at him before looking out of the den and at the darkening sky above the trees. "We should rest soon. It's getting late."

"Yeah, but first… chow time." He smiled, opening up each of the backpacks and showing what was inside.

"Woah. It's like you took everything you saw. There's everything in there!" She reached into the bag, pulling out a box of cookies. She grinned.

He grinned back, taking the box and opening it, then setting it between the two as he settled down to eat.

Jess shuffled over and sat beside him, leaning slightly against him as she dug into the food.


End file.
